eduard 1/48 F6F-3 “Flatleys Hellcat”
this is the mount of famous aviator LT CMDR. James H. Flatley Jr. as it would have appeared in the summer of 1943 when he commanded an air group aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown II...CV-10..."The Fighting Lady"...jimmy was a personal friend of my dad and mom as they both revered him...not for the war hero he was but for the outstanding man he was...it's been said he knew the name of every man that served under his command to the lowliest seaman recruit...he joined the cactus air force on Guadalcanal after the U.S. Navy had lost all of their carriers with the exception of the Enterprise and was present on the flight where "Injun Joe Bauer" went MIA...he was co-inventor of the "Thach weave" though he got no credit...before the war he was lead flight instructor at N.A.S. Pensacola where he trained most of the future navy and marine greats such as Butch Ohare and Jimmy Thach and pretty much all the rest that fought in the first two or three years of the war...his plane was very quickly worn as the navy got a lot of bang for their buck from this outstanding Naval officer...aviator and giant of a man
Bob,
This is fantastic. You did an outstanding job on this model. You have paid a great honor to Flatly, a true hero and He would be proud of this homage to him.
thank you for that frank...i am truly touched
Like Frank said, this is fantastic. Really well finished and displayed. Can you tell us more about the build, was it completely OOB, and how did you make the base?
Beautiful build, Frank...you've outdone yourself (...and a bunch of others...) - love that belly shot and the accompanying photos. A nice presentation all around! GOOD WORK!
Man, that's a great looking Hellcat! Dang Bob, that cockpit is just fantastic. That model is just beautiful work!
This is one of the finest Hellcat models I have ever seen. Period.
Outstanding work Bob! From your fit and finish, to markings and display, this is superb craftmanship. What a great tribute to Flatley, one of Naval Aviation's giants.
Gorgeous work, Bob. A real masterpiece.
Very nice work Bob, I like the overall finish, and the red surrounds on the insignia add just the right amount of color. Great job on a nice base
Good work, painting and toning on top!
Beau8tiful work, Bob. There is, however, one small niggling item (which I wouldn't bring up if it wasn't easy to fix) that if you fix it will move this model from Really Good to Great:
Look at the photo you provided of Flatley's airplane. It was one of the first 200 F6F-3s (which is why the lighter blue is actually blue-grey, the color it was originally painted, as you got it - the sea blue was field applied in the "Norfolk" pattern). It had the gun shrouds on the inner two weapons - look close and you can clearly see them.
Easily fixed with some Evergreen plastic and a bit of paint.
Don't worry, this is the main mistake people make when they do Flatley's airplane (ask me how I know). Not a complaint, but the model's so good it deserves that little extra "mulligan".
Look in the original Squadron "Hellcat in Action" book - there's a good drawing of the shrouds, showing how easy they are - also the close-up of Flatley's airplane that clearly has them.
in all honesty tom i did know about the shrouded guns...i actually went shopping for them when i bought these...of course no joy...and i didn't know what to do about it...but a model is never done to me i just need some kind of plan
Great job and well photographed.
Bob, beautifully done! Your build quality is superb and that paint job is equally as good.